More than Meets the Eye
by LadyK25
Summary: Just when Mal thinks things are going well, trouble always seems to find him. Ok, I suck at summaries. Please read & review.


Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Firefly or its characters. I'd just like to stow away on Serenity for a while.

Feedback: This is my first Firefly story. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Please let me know what you think!

Author's Notes: This is set after Shepherd Book and Inara leave the ship, but before the Serenity movie.

Chinese used in story:

cào nî zûxiān shí bâ dai – f 18 generations of your ancestors

bèn dàn - you idiot!

Ta ma duh! - "f me blind!"

tiānna -Oh god

zhè bìng bù huài - it's not that bad

chûnrén - fool, jerk

**More than Meets the Eye**

The chair squeaked in protest as Mal leaned back in the rickety chair and finished his drink. He smiled as he slid his chair back from the tiny table and stood. He pocketed the slip of paper that had the name of a contact on Paquin. By now, Zoe and Jayne should be about done delivering those stupid dolls not far from the bar. To be perfectly honest, he was glad he had an excuse not to be there to deliver those dolls. That was just a mite embarrassing to a man such as himself. Dolls! Kaylee sure loved 'em, though. Still, today was a good day. He'd completed a delivery and got info for another job, both in the same day. Yep, things were lookin' up. He passed through the doorway in the back of the room, figuring the bathroom had to be back here somewhere. He passed through three corridors lined with curtained rooms before he finally found it at the end of the hall.

* * *

Erin groaned and reached up, gingerly touching the lump on her forehead. No wonder her head hurt so damn bad. She slowly got to her feet. She heard a ship's engines roar to life behind her. She spun around, teetering a bit before catching her balance. In the distance, she watched a ship lift off. She craned her neck to watch the ship she'd borrowed from her brother fly overhead as it broke atmo and left without her. "Cào nî zûxiān shí bâ dai," she swore to the empty sky.

She'd never hear the end of it when one of her brothers finally got around to picking her up on this backwater sorry ass excuse of a planet and brought her back home to Greenleaf. How could she have been so stupid? She knew better than to trust anyone but family. How many times had the four of them drilled that into her head?

She started back to town. Things had gone so well. Her brother, Caleb, had let her and her friends borrow one of his ships to visit Londinum. Well, that's what she'd told him, anyway. They'd actually come here to Santo, instead. Her friends had set up the deal. She couldn't believe how much they'd gotten for the illegal pharmaceutical plants she'd grown. Right now she was glad she'd sneaked the plants on board without their help. At least they didn't know where what she called her 'special garden' was located, and she knew there was no way they'd find it on their own if they went looking. Even her brothers hadn't stumbled upon the plot where she grew them. The tropical jungle surrounding the area where she lived made it difficult to navigate unless you knew exactly where you were going.

"Bèn dàn," she grumbled to herself as she trudged along. What had she done? She'd known better, but yet somehow her so-called friends had talked her into it anyway. She heard their voices in her head again. "This'll show those brothers of yours that you can take care of yourself." She snorted at that. Oh yeah, she'd shown them, all right. She guessed her brothers had been right.

She still couldn't believe that they'd actually left her here…alone…with nothing but the clothes on her back, as far as they knew. Luckily that wasn't the case, but still. She absentmindedly felt along the bottom hem of her jacket, and the bumps enclosed there soothed her frayed nerves a bit. At least she hadn't completely ignored all of her brothers' advice. They'd always said to be prepared because you never knew when you might get caught somewhere unexpected. She snorted again. If this didn't qualify then she didn't know what did.

She rubbed her throbbing head as she started down the dirt street, looking for someplace where she could send a message. Before she'd taken more than a couple steps, she heard a shout and looked over to see a man point in her direction. She didn't think much of it, glancing over her shoulder to see who they might be pointing at, before continuing on. There were plenty of people walking on the dusty street. She figured it must've been someone else on the busy street that they had their eye on, that is until the three got a bit closer and she got a better look at them.

She froze, her heart in her throat. She recognized the shortest one, Hugh Mitchell. He may have been short, but every inch of him oozed evil. He and her oldest brother Casey had clashed a number of times, the last one getting particularly ugly. He'd taken a mite bit of exception when Casey had stolen one of his slaves, who hadn't actually been a slave at all, but someone Mitchell had abducted. Turned out that was how Mitchell acquired most of his slaves. Casey wasn't normally so sentimental since he'd come back from the war, but Mara had entranced him on first sight. Apparently falling in love can do strange things to a man.

She remembered the scene in her brother's hall well when Casey had told Mitchell that Mara was his wife and now under his protection. Mitchell's face had turned a lovely shade of purple, he'd been so mad. There wasn't much he could do, though, with all the guns that'd been pointed at him. She cringed, hearing his words in her head again vowing to get even before he'd spun on his heel and left. She wished now that Casey had just killed him that day, instead.

She wondered how could he have recognized her from all the way down the street. It was weird, like he knew she would be here or something, but she didn't have time to ponder that now. No, she had no doubt that Mitchell was up to no good as usual, and she had no intention on being sold into slavery today, thank you very much.

She quickly scanned the businesses lined up on the boardwalk. There wasn't much to choose from. Her eyes skimmed over the small buildings until they reached the largest, by far. The dilapidated sign on the front of the huge building said "Saloon". That'd do. Luckily it was only a few doors down from where she was.

She glanced down the boardwalk and saw the men were already halfway to her. She raced to the saloon and ducked into the doorway of the dingy bar. She paused for a second as her eyes adjusted to the dim light and then headed for the open door she saw at the back corner of the room. The scent of stale beer nearly overpowered her as she weaved her way between the tables. She'd always hated the smell of beer.

She hurried through the back doorway and stopped at the sight of a short corridor filled with curtained rooms. She figured it was probably more of the same around the next bend. No wonder the building had looked so big from the outside. She stopped to peek back through the doorway. Damn! She ducked back, seeing Mitchell enter the saloon, but thankfully he hadn't seen her. Guess there was no going back that way. What the hell was she going to do now? She had no doubt that he'd sell her to slavers, or even worse, keep her for himself just to spite her brother.

That scary thought spurred her into action. She raced down the short hallway, throwing a look over her shoulder just before she rounded the corner. She should've been watching where she was going instead. "Whoa, there," she heard a heartbeat before crashing into a solid chest. The amused voice continued, "the bathroom's down the end of the hall if you got to be goin' that bad."

"What?" She looked up at the man she'd run into. He was quite a bit taller than her measly 5'5", more like the height of her brothers who were all about 6' tall, give or take. What he'd said finally sunk in. "No, I wish that's all it was. I've got some men after me." The flickering light in the hall bounced off a few copper streaks in his brown hair, but his eyes, now those caught her, and the concerned look that she saw there made her hopeful. The gun strapped to his leg didn't hurt, either.

She threw a look back over her shoulder and couldn't stop the wave of panic when she saw the toe of a black boot appear. She shoved the man around the next corner to at least buy herself another moment from detection. She made a split decision. "Please help me," she begged, staring into his eyes for a second before taking another quick look back. They could both hear footsteps echoing down the hall, quickly coming closer.

"Ta ma duh!" He swore under his breath. Why did trouble always seem to find him, even in the middle of nowhere? And why was it that he could never say no and just walk away from it like any other sane man? He'd noticed the nasty bump on her forehead. It looked like someone had cracked her good and he could only imagine what else they probably had in mind for her.

He grabbed her hand and dashed down the hall to the first curtained room. They peeked through the side of the curtain, but the room, if you wanted to call the tiny cubicle that, was already being used. So was the next, from the sounds coming from behind the curtain. They crossed the hall and finally found one that wasn't occupied. He pulled her in behind him and swept the curtain closed.

They stood face to face for a moment and his eyes squinted a little as they swept her from head to toe. She swallowed hard. Good lord, what had she gotten herself into now? She thought of what she'd just seen in those other cubicles and blushed. The thorough scrutinizitation she was getting from this stranger wasn't helping either. She hoped he hadn't gotten the wrong idea.

Although she had to admit, if only to herself, that he was damn good looking, but that certainly wasn't what she'd had in mind. On top of that, her brothers would kill her…or more likely him after they hunted him down. Sometimes it was really annoying to have four overprotective older brothers. Hell, trying to get out from under their thumbs was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Boot heels clicked down the wood floor in the corridor, getting closer. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. This was it. They were going to find her.

His hands seized her upper arms and her eyes flew open. He nudged her backwards until the back of her knees hit the bed and she collapsed onto it. She glanced down and realized that calling it a bed was being quite generous as it was more of a large cot than a bed, really. She tried to push the funky smell that emanated from the mattress from her mind.

They heard the sound of metal rings sliding across their rods as curtains were whipped aside and then sliding back as they were reclosed. The man leaned back to unbutton his shirt and then threw it to the floor. He shoved her down, practically crushing her into the lumpy mattress.

She opened her mouth to protest, but the curtain slid open and she ended up hiding her face against his chest instead. He lowered his left arm to further shield her from the man in the doorway and glared back over his shoulder at the disruption. "What the hell's goin' on?" He snapped. "Can't ya see I'm busy here? I paid up and intend on gettin' my money's worth."

There was no reply but the curtain whipped shut again and they could hear Mitchell move on to the next room.

He heard her sigh in relief and could feel the tension begin to leave her body. He slid off her so they were side by side and grinned down at her. "Well now, the folks on Santo sure are mighty friendly," he teased, brushing a piece of her soft, dark blond hair back from her forehead.

She slid across the bed, which was maybe a whole two feet, until her back smacked against the wall. He held up his hands. "Hey now, I'm not gonna hurt ya." He sat up, hung one leg off the bed and drew up his other knee and lightly clasped his hands around it. "My name's Mal by the way."

A long pause, then, "Erin."

"Care to tell me what's going on?"

She shook her head. "No."

He nodded. "All right, then." He got off the bed then reached down and grabbed his shirt, putting it back on. "I guess I'll be leaving."

"Wait! They might still be out there."

He turned back to face her, buttoning up his shirt. "I reckon they are. I can't stay here all day." He stopped short and chuckled. "Well, actually I suppose I could if you made it worth my while." He watched her roll her eyes. Now that hurt, seeing how he'd just hid her from those men and all. Apparently he wasn't good enough for most ladies. Wasn't quite sure why that bothered him more than usual.

Still, he didn't like being outgunned three to one, either. He should've just kept his gorram nose out of it. "They'll be back once they get to the end of the next hall and still haven't found you. There's only one way out of here, the way we came. We best get movin'."

She knew she really had no choice. She wordlessly got up and stood beside him near the door.

"Come on, let's go. And keep your head down and your mouth shut out there." He slid the curtain to one side, peeking out to make sure the coast was clear. "They must be down the next hall. Let's go."

She followed him out of the room, trailing slightly behind him. They hurried down the halls and through the run down barroom. Erin kept glancing back but was thankfully surprised not to see anyone chasing them. Yet, at least.

She blinked in the bright sunlight and tried to keep up with Mal as he hurried down the dusty boardwalk. They reached the end of the row of buildings and stepped into their shadow. "Where do you live, anyway?" He asked, intent on seeing her home safely.

"On Greenleaf."

"Green--? You don't live on this gorram planet?" He snapped.

"Uh…no," she stammered.

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

"It's a long story." She looked back meaningfully. "I just have to find a way off Santo."

He snorted. "That's not a problem."

"Oh, just like that? You make it sound like it's not a problem to get a ride off this backwoods rock."

He smiled. "Not when you have your own ship."

Her eyes snapped to his, looking at him in a new light. Could he be telling the truth? "Really?"

"Yep."

"Can you take me to Greenleaf?" She thought of the stash in her hem but wondered if he could really be trusted. She could very well find herself stuck somewhere else before this was all over and figured it'd be better to hold off and only use it as a last resort. "I can cook," she offered instead.

He shrugged his shoulders. "We all take our turn cooking onboard."

"But how good is it?" She thought of her brothers who always seemed like they were starving. "My brothers think I'm the best cook on Greenleaf." What's a little exaggeration now and then?

He shrugged his shoulders again. "You're a long way from home," he said, and scratched his chin. "That's pretty far out of my way."

"Can you at least get me off this rock?"

"That I guess I can do." He extended his hand and they shook on it. "I hope you live up to your claims of your extraordinary cooking ability or I may have to put you to work elsewhere on the ship."

He enjoyed the momentary look of panic that flashed across her face as he left her to ponder that thought. He hoped she wasn't lying because he had to confess that, with the exception of some of Kaylee's meals, most days the food wasn't mighty appetizing. Jayne's in particular. He suppressed a shudder at one particularly memorable meal that Jayne had concocted.

Mal grabbed his radio. "Wash, did Zoe and Jayne get back yet?"

"Long time ago. We've been waiting for ya."

"Fire up the engines. Oh, and get Jayne ready with Vera. I might need him. Mal out."

"Come on, my ship's just over that ridge," he said, taking off in the direction he'd just pointed to.

It was only a few moments before they got to the ridge and could see beyond it. She saw a sad looking ship sitting in front of them. She was just about to ask who in their right mind would risk their life in that flying junkyard when she heard him proudly say, "There she is."

"Tiānna," she whispered.

"What did you say?" He smiled to himself. Everyone always underestimated Serenity.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"Zhè bìng bù huài. Looks can be deceiving. Trust me, Serenity's a good ship."

Before she had time to reconsider getting on board, a bullet kicked up dust near their feet, and suddenly Serenity looked like heaven. Mal pulled his gun from the leg holster and started shooting as they both ducked and rolled in the dirt. He pulled out his radio. "Now would be a good time for a little help," he snapped into it.

Wash's voice came over the radio. "At your service, captain." The cargo bay door opened. Both Jayne and Zoe stood there and began to lay down some cover fire.

Mal grabbed her wrist with his left hand and gestured toward Serenity with his chin. "Come on."

After what felt like an eternity with all the bullets whizzing by, she found herself face down on cold metal with Mal once again on top of her. "Let's go," he yelled, even though the cargo bay door was already starting to close and they could hear the whine of the engines as they started to lift off.

Mal slowly got to his feet once he heard the bullets stop pinging off the hull. He held out his hand. Erin took it and stood up beside him. He lightly slapped her on the back. "Now that was fun." She looked at him like he'd lost his mind. He just laughed and turned to Zoe. "Everything go okay?"

She nodded, her gaze sliding to the stranger beside him. "And you?"

"Great. I got a meeting for another job lined up on Paquin." He pointed to the newcomer. "And as you can see we've picked up a new member of the crew. Erin'll be doing our cooking. Set up some quarters for her, will ya, Zoe." Then he spun on his heel and left.

"Uh…hi," she awkwardly held out her hand, "I'm Erin."

Zoe ignored the outstretched hand. "Yeah, heard that." She turned and headed for the catwalks. She glanced over her shoulder without stopping. "You coming, or what?"

"Oh, okay," Erin hurried to catch up. She silently followed behind her for a bit until Zoe suddenly stopped without warning and Erin plowed right into her. "Umph. Sorry," she mumbled at Zoe's glare.

"This'll be your quarters." Erin barely had time to peek inside the surprisingly large room before Zoe took off again.

"Come on, it's almost dinner time. You need to start cooking."

Erin stumbled over her own two feet as she started after her, but caught herself with a hand on the wall before she fell. Zoe's look told her that she wasn't too impressed with what she'd seen so far. She sure didn't seem to like her much. A thought came to her. "Are you Mal's wife?"

She didn't turn around. "Nope."

"Is he married?"

That got her to stop and turn around to face her. "Nope. Doubt he'll ever get married, either, seein' how it's like he's already married to Serenity."

Erin smiled. "Glad to hear it."

Zoe scrutinized her for a moment then silently continued on her way. They passed through a doorway and entered the dining area. She pointed. "There's the galley. You can settle into your quarters after you're done here." Just like that she turned and started to head out, running into Kaylee on her way in. She paused only long enough to say, "Cap'n got us a cook, so you won't need to be cooking anymore, Kaylee." Then she continued through the door.

Erin warily eyed the newcomer, wondering if she was going to be mad or something that she'd no longer be cooking. That was definitely the kind of day she'd been having so far. To say she was in shock when this Kaylee person ran up to her and threw her arms around her in a big hug would be putting it mildly. "I'm Kaylee. It's so nice to have someone else on board. I didn't even know that Mal was looking for a cook for us."

Erin patted her on the back and then quickly disentangled herself. "It's a long story. I'm Erin, by the way." Kaylee beamed at her like a gift from the heavens or something. It was a bit unnerving.

"Let me show you where everything is." Kaylee gave her the grand tour of the galley and dining room, all five minutes of it. She seemed quite proud of the gussying up that she'd done. Kaylee jabbered non-stop the whole time Erin was cooking. How anyone could have that much to say to a complete stranger was beyond her. Oh well, at least she didn't have to say much since she could barely get a word in edgewise. Erin felt her body relax a little. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for the short time she'd be here, after all.

She was glad Kaylee was still there later when the rest of the crew started filtering in and she introduced her to everyone. She slowly stirred the pot of stew, stopping to add a bit of salt, as she recalled the motley crew. Jayne was the muscle on the ship and definitely didn't look like someone she'd want to tangle with. There was a doctor named Simon and his sister River, who seemed a bit odd. Then there was Zoe's husband, Wash, who was the ship's pilot. Now that seemed like an odd couple if she ever saw one.

Finally, she saw Mal come in and sit down at the table. Guess she couldn't hide in the galley any longer. Erin had trouble swallowing the lump in her throat as she headed out and placed the pot of stew on the table. Even she had to confess that this wasn't her best meal, by any stretch of the imagination, but she didn't have a hell of a lot to work with. She'd have to talk to Mal about that. She watched Mal cautiously poke the ladle into the pot, then stir it a bit, before he finally put a spoonful into his bowl.

"Oh, I have biscuits, too." She hurried back into the galley and got the first heaping plateful. She put it down next to Mal and stood there, waiting for his reaction.

"Fresh biscuits!" Jayne shot to his feet and leaned across Simon to grab a couple off the plate, brushing Mal's hand away in the process.

"Mind your manners, Jayne," Mal snapped. "Ya might think ya hadn't eaten in a week."

"Mmm, biscuits," he mumbled with his mouth full, then licked the crumbs off his fingers.

Mal shook his head and grabbed a biscuit. He dunked it in his stew and took a bite. He froze.

Oh god, she thought. He hates it. She pictured herself being sucked out the airlock and floating in space. "I…I…you didn't give me much to work with," she finally got out.

"I know," he looked up, surprising her with a huge grin. "This is delicious."

She smiled back. "Thanks. I'll go get the other plate of biscuits." She headed back to the galley and walked to the counter, out of view of everyone sitting at the table. She reached out for the plate and saw her hand shaking like a leaf. She closed it into a fist, and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her frayed nerves. A few more calming breaths and her racing heart slowed down a bit. She held out her hand again, still a little shaky, but at least the biscuits weren't in danger of flying off the plate anymore. She brought out the second plate and set it down at the other end of the table.

"Bout time," Jayne said, and grabbed a couple biscuits off the plate. "Thought you got lost in there or sumthin'."

She pulled the plate away from him before he could get any more. She snapped, "Chûnrén, ya gonna leave any for someone else?"

Mal laughed and she turned to look at him. "I'd advise ya make twice as many biscuits next time, Erin." He saw her nod and then added, "Ya gonna eat?" He watched her hesitate. "Come on now, grab a chair and pull it on up to the table. Wash, slide down so she has some room."

She nervously settled into her seat, squeezed in between Mal and Wash, a little surprised but quite happy that everyone seemed to relish the meal. She guessed their cooking must've been really bad if they were enjoying this so much. She wouldn't say it was terrible or anything, but it wasn't a meal she was particularly proud of. She definitely needed to mention getting more supplies to work with.

She ate in silence for a while, letting the conversation flow around her. She still couldn't believe Zoe and Wash were married. They were so different, like night and day. She guessed it was true that opposites attract. She wondered how long it would be before she made it back home. In a way she wasn't looking forward to it. She was never going to hear the end of it from her brothers. Maybe she should try to get in touch with Kevin. With him being a bounty hunter and all, she figured he was more likely to be a bit more forgiving of her stupidity.

The deal itself had gone down fine. They'd sold the medicinal plants for a hefty price. They were on their way back to the ship so they could head back home. She hadn't seen the butt of the gun coming until the last second, when she'd turned a bit and caught a blur from the corner of her eye before it crashed into her forehead and then everything went black. Nope, not one of her finer moments.

Mal interrupted her thoughts. "We'll be stopping at Paquin first thing in the morning, so rest up, everyone. I'm getting the details for a job there."

She looked up. "I'm going to need some supplies and stuff."

He nodded. "There's a marketplace nearby. I know Kaylee needs some parts, too. We'll drop you both off while we continue on to the meeting. You should have about an hour to pick up what you need before we get back."

Not long after, everyone got up from the table and went their separate ways, leaving Erin alone. She quickly cleaned up, and then headed back to her quarters. It had been one heck of a long day and she was beat. She was fast asleep not long after her head hit the pillow.


End file.
